Monty's trouble and strife

There is always the suspicion that when a play is removed from the manic hothouse atmosphere of the Edinburgh Fringe, it will somehow appear diminished in its new surroundings.

A Very Naughty Boy, a touching look at the troubled life of Graham Chapman, the most elusive member of the Monty Python team, was rightly praised north of the border last summer.

Yet a Soho transfer means a larger stage and, crucially, a less-intimate auditorium, which proves problematic, even for this outstanding two-strong cast. It also occasionally leaves the piece hanging awkwardly between public comedy and private drama.

Chapman, portrayed with tremendous stiff-upper-lip charm by author Adrian Poynton, is relayed to us through the meticulous and critical eyes of his long-term writing partner, John Cleese (an appropriately curt Tom Price).

Too late Cleese realises that what the shy, gay, alcoholic Chapman craved was his respect and, above all, supportive friendship.

Such nuances of human interaction are a world away from the grimly depressing set-up of the short, brutal and eminently missable Flush. A context-free group of dislikeable young people meet, play poker and engage in random homo and heterosexual sex.

There is much sub-Lock Stock braggadocio and it is impossible to tell if the piece is sending itself up or taking it all very seriously.

The 22-year-old writer, David Dipper, graduated through Soho's myriad creative programmes, which surely means he possesses talent. This hopeless attempt to rework the terrain of Patrick Marber's Dealer's Choice does not begin to showcase it.